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Yields:
6 - 8 serving(s)
Prep Time:
15 mins
Total Time:
35 mins
If you fancy spicy tuna and you love a macaroni salad, the only logical thing to do at that point is to bring the two together in a generous serving of spicy tuna mac. This recipe calls for quick-pickling red onion, shredded carrots, and chopped pickles while the pasta cooks so you get nicely tart and crunchy elements in every bite.
If you’re short on time and happen to have a jar of quick-pickled red onions on hand, just give them a rough chop and use right away. If you happen to have bell peppers, cucumbers, or celery instead of carrots on hand, guess what? They’re perfectly fine to sub in for the carrot, though you will be missing that vibrant visual orange pop.
The most important instruction when it comes to making pasta salad is: Do not overcook the pasta. Using short elbow macaroni pasta means you don’t need a lot of water—just 2 cups is enough!—and making sure you’re not following the box instructions will prevent mushy noodles. Veer on the side of undercooking the pasta, tasting it about after 4 minutes until it feels just right, then draining and shaking dry immediately to prevent carryover cooking.
Folding the hot pasta right into your tuna-mayo-pickle mix will enable each noodle to soak up some of that saucy delight as it cools. Not a fan of spice? You can just use regular mayo instead of spicy mayo!
If you’ve made this recipe, drop us a note down below and let us know how you liked it!
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Ingredients
- 1
small red onion, finely chopped
- 1/2 cup
shredded carrot
- 1/4 cup
finely chopped dill pickles
- 1 Tbsp.
lemon juice
- 1 tsp.
granulated sugar
- 1 tsp.
kosher salt, divided
- 8 oz.
elbow macaroni
- 2
(5-oz.) cans solid white Albacore tuna in water, drained
- 1/2 cup
- 1/2 tsp.
smoked paprika
- 1/2 tsp.
freshly ground black pepper
- 2
hard-boiled eggs, chopped
- 1
scallion, thinly sliced, for garnish
Directions
- Step 1In a medium bowl, stir together onion, carrot, pickles, lemon juice, sugar, and ½ teaspoon salt. Set aside.
- Step 2In the meantime, in a medium pot over medium heat, combine macaroni, 2 cups water, and remaining ½ teaspoon salt and bring to a boil. Cook, stirring frequently, until pasta is al dente, about 5 minutes. Drain immediately and let cool slightly.
- Step 3In a large bowl, stir together tuna, mayo, paprika, and pepper. Fold in pasta and pickle mixture until well combined, then top with eggs.
- Step 4Garnish with scallion before serving.
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